All will appear at Basildon Crown Court on September 30 for a pre-trial hearing.

Ian Young, 40, an electrician, of Brightwell Avenue, Westcliff, who was summonsed for assisting an offender and having a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid or gas or an electrical incapacitation device, is expected to appear before magistrates separately next Friday (September 9).

Simon Dobbin, 44, of Peterhouse Close, Mildenhall, was set upon by a gang outside the Railway pub in Southend on March 21 last year after watching Cambridge United play.

He had serious head injuries and was put in a medically induced coma at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, before regaining consciousness and being moved to a rehab centre in Norwich. He returned home in March but has brain damage and is still unable to walk, talk and feed himself.